By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 4 -- The much delayed report to the UN on whether it was the proximate cause of the cholera outbreak in Haiti was given to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier this week, and was released by the UN after 5 pm on Wednesday, here.
The report concludes that “the evidence overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that the source of the Haiti cholera outbreak was due to contamination of the Meye Tributary of the Artibonite River with a pathogenic strain of current South Asian type Vibrio cholerae as a result of human activity.”
The report also chides the UN for its sanitation practices, recommending
1) The Haiti cholera outbreak highlights the risk of transmitting cholera during mobilization of population for emergency response. To prevent introduction of cholera into non-endemic countries, United Nations personnel and emergency responders traveling from cholera endemic areas should either receive a prophylactic dose of appropriate antibiotics before departure or be screened with a sensitive method to confirm absence of asymptomatic carriage of Vibrio cholerae, or both.
2) United Nations missions commonly operate in emergencies with concurrent cholera epidemics. All United Nations personnel and emergency responders traveling to emergencies should receive prophylactic antibiotics, be immunized against cholera with currently available oral vaccines, or both, in order to protect their own health and to protect the health of others.
3) To prevent introduction of contamination into the local environment, United Nations installations worldwide should treat fecal waste using on-site systems that inactivate pathogens before disposal.
The report is beginning to be called "shifty," for blaming the UN but also a "confluence of circumstances." Inner City Press back on January 11 asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Nesirky about calls in Haiti for compensation from the UN for cholera.
From the transcript:
Inner City Press: And just one other thing, maybe just for a response…
Spokesperson: Is this about Haiti?
Inner City Press: It is about Haiti. There’s a group there known as SOFA, the Solidarité des Femmes Haïtiennes. They’ve recently, I guess in connection with, or slightly before this one-year anniversary, they’ve said that – I guess, more explosively, they’ve asked the Government to somehow indict the UN for – they say – having brought cholera. But they’ve also raised this issue of compensation – so I wanted to make sure that the two things – can you, they’re saying that the UN should pay some compensation for - for cholera. That’s their claim. They’re a Haitian group, you can – so I guess I just want to know, what’s the UN response to that? Are they aware of that call, and what’s their response?
Spokesman Nesirky [misidentified as “Question” in Transcript] -- As you know, the Secretary-General instituted a panel. Those four experts are working precisely to establish the source of the outbreak of cholera, which has not been established so far. That’s their job to do so, to the extent that they are able to do so, and to report back to the Secretary-General and the Government of Haiti as quickly as they can. And to go the next step beyond that is not really helpful at this point. There is a clear job to do, and that’s the job that the panel has been asked to carry out as swiftly as possible, and in the meantime, of course, the key priority is to help those people – you heard from Mr. [Nigel] Fisher yesterday about the death rates being lower, but still the number of cases being very high. So this is something that needs to be tackled as a priority.
Inner City Press [misidentified as Spokesperson in transcript]: So I understand that the panel comes first. But I just want to know, I mean maybe you can answer this — does the idea, in the abstract, of compensation seem unreasonable to the UN? Depending on what it finds?
Spokesman Nesirky [misidentified as “Question” in Transcript]: Look, I don’t – this is something that – let’s do things step-by-step. And the most important thing is to help those in need. You’ve heard extensively, not just from Mr. Fisher but most recently from Mr. Fisher, on that. And you also know that this — the four panel members, experts each in their own right, are working hard to establish precisely what the source of the outbreak was, if they are able to do so.
And now they have. How will the UN respond?
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, setting out on a trip to Bulgaria, has said he
"intends to convene a task force within the United Nations system, to study the findings and recommendations made by the Independent Panel of Experts to ensure prompt and appropriate follow-up.... On behalf of the UN family, the Secretary-General reiterates his deepest sympathies to the victims of the epidemic and their loved ones."
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